6.  The applicant was born in 1981 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan and is currently detained in a remand facility in Baku awaiting extradition to Uzbekistan. He holds a valid Uzbek passport and is considered to be a national of Uzbekistan by both the Azerbaijani and Uzbek authorities. The applicant, however, also claims to be an Azerbaijani national (see below).
7.  The applicant's father, Firudin Garayev, of Azerbaijani ethnic origin, was born in 1953 in Beylagan, Azerbaijan. The applicant's mother, Olima Garayeva, of Uzbek ethnic origin, was born in 1960 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The applicant had an elder brother, Jeyhun Garayev, and a younger sister, Nargiz Garayeva. The family was living in Bukhara, Uzbekistan at the time the events described below took place.
8.  On 21 December 2000 the applicant's entire family, including himself and his then twelve-year-old sister, were arrested in Bukhara on suspicion of killing six persons and mutilating their corpses. It appears that prior to the arrest the Uzbek law-enforcement authorities found remains of mutilated human corpses inside the house of the applicant's family and in a rubbish dump near their house. The applicant's mother was the primary suspect, while all the other family members were suspected of being accomplices. The applicant claimed to have been out of town at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
9.  It appears from the case file that their arrest generated much media coverage in Uzbekistan. The media reports also allegedly included false rumours that the applicant's family had been engaged in the trafficking of human organs and even cannibalism. The ethnic origin of the applicant's father and his children was also usually mentioned.
10.  According to the applicant, while in detention he and all his family members had been constantly subjected to torture and other forms of ill‑treatment with the aim of extracting confessions from them. They were kept in separate cells for most of the time. The applicant provided a very detailed account of the types of ill-treatment to which he had been subjected, which included, inter alia, various forms of beating, deprivation of food and drink, and suffocation.
11.  It appears that, initially, no charges were brought against the applicant or most of his family members in connection with the murders and on various dates they were all released, with the exception of his mother, owing to lack of evidence. However, after the release all of the family (except the applicant's sister) were arrested again on various grounds.
12.  After a few days in detention, the applicant was released on 26 December 2000 owing to lack of evidence in connection with his involvement in the murder. However, only a few minutes after his release, the applicant was stopped on the street by other police officers, who asked him for identity documents. The applicant was then taken to a police station where, after a body search, the police allegedly found some heroin concealed in his shoes. The applicant argued that the drugs had been planted on him by the police, as he had been released from detention only a few minutes earlier and would not have been able to acquire any heroin and hide it in the soles of his shoes during this extremely short time period, especially while suffering from the effects of ill-treatment and having had nothing to eat or drink since his initial arrest.
13.  On 30 April 2001 the Tokhuculug District Court of Bukhara convicted the applicant of possession of illegal drugs and sentenced him to four years' imprisonment. He was not provided with legal assistance during these proceedings.
14.  The applicant was released on 2 August 2001 following a presidential pardon.
15.  On 27 November 2001 he left Uzbekistan with his sister and has lived in Azerbaijan since then.
16.  In the meantime, by a decision of the Bukhara Regional Court of 20 November 2001, the applicant was charged with the murder of six persons and the mutilation of their corpses, under Articles 97 § 2 (aggravated murder) and 134 (abuse of corpse) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. Moreover, by the same decision, the Bukhara Regional Court ordered the application of the preventive measure of remand in custody in respect of the applicant without fixing any term for detention.
17.  On 6 August 2002 the Bukhara Regional Prosecutor's Office suspended the pre-trial investigation, finding that the applicant was at large, and declared a search for him in order to secure his presence at the place of investigation.
18.  The applicant's father was released from detention on 29 December 2000 but was arrested again on the same day for alleged possession of heroin, in circumstances similar to the applicant's second arrest. On 20 November 2001 the Bukhara Regional Court convicted him of possession of illegal drugs and certain other offences and sentenced him to eleven years' imprisonment.
19.  On the same day, 20 November 2001, the Bukhara Regional Court convicted the applicant's mother and brother of murdering six persons and mutilating their corpses, and sentenced each of them to fifteen years' imprisonment under Articles 97 § 2 and 134 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. The court found that the applicant's mother, with the assistance of her eldest son and with the purpose of enrichment at the expense of the victims, had invited a family of her acquaintance to her home, poisoned and killed them, and thereafter dismembered and otherwise mutilated the corpses so that it would be easier to dispose of them.
20.  In April 2004 the applicant's father was also convicted under Articles 97 § 2 and 134 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. It was found that he had aided and abetted his wife and eldest son in the killings and mutilation of the victims' corpses. After a series of appeals, his conviction under Article 97 § 2 was quashed and the conviction under Article 134 upheld, and taking into account his previous conviction he was sentenced to a combined sentence of twenty years' imprisonment.
21.  The applicant's brother died in prison on 12 February 2008 from heart and lung failure. According to the applicant, his brother's death was a consequence of many years of ill-treatment.
22.  The applicant's father was released from prison in May 2008 following a presidential pardon and moved to Azerbaijan.
23.  The applicant's mother was released from prison in October 2008, also following a presidential pardon, and moved to Azerbaijan in November 2008.
24.  As mentioned above, the applicant has been living in Azerbaijan since 27 November 2001. It appears from the case file that the applicant entered the territory of Azerbaijan legally with his Uzbek passport. However, he had been entitled to stay in Azerbaijan for ninety days only and it appears that after this period he continued to live there without a residence permit.
25.  On 9 April 2008 the applicant was arrested by the police in Beylagan on the basis of a search warrant issued by the Uzbek authorities.
26.  On 10 April 2008 the Beylagan District Court ordered the applicant's detention with a view to extraditing him. The Beylagan District Court relied on the Bukhara Regional Court's detention order of 20 November 2001 and confirmed its findings. No fixed term for detention was specified, and it was noted that the applicant would be detained until an extradition decision had been given. The decision of the Beylagan District Court was subject to an appeal within three days of its delivery. However, the applicant did not appeal against that decision.
27.  On 2 May 2008 the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan made a formal request for the applicant's extradition relying on the CIS Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters of 22 January 1993 (“the 1993 Minsk Convention”).
28.  On 18 June 2008 the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued a decision on the applicant's extradition to Uzbekistan under the 1993 Minsk Convention. Inter alia, the decision stated that, according to the information provided by the Uzbek authorities, the applicant was a national of Uzbekistan and that, according to the information received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, he was not considered to be an Azerbaijani national in accordance with the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
29.  By a letter of 29 July 2008 the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan asked the Uzbek authorities to give assurances in respect of the applicant's criminal case. By a letter of 31 July 2008 signed by the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek authorities gave assurance that the criminal case against the applicant did not have any political or racial motivation, that the applicant would not be subjected to torture or any other inhuman treatment and that the applicant's defence rights would be ensured. It stated that, by a law of 11 July 2007 which entered into force on 1 January 2008, the death penalty had been abolished in Uzbekistan. It also added that the applicant would be allowed to leave Uzbekistan after serving his sentence and that he would not be handed over to a third State without the consent of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
30.  Subsequently, the applicant was involved in two separate sets of proceedings by means of which he attempted to have the extradition order quashed.
31.  After the applicant's father returned to Azerbaijan, he applied for an Azerbaijani national's identity card on the basis of the fact that he had been born in Beylagan, in the Azerbaijan SSR, and had lived in the Azerbaijan SSR until 1975. On 9 August 2008 the applicant's father was issued with an identity card confirming his citizenship.
32.  Following his arrest on 9 April 2008, the applicant attempted to apply, through his representative, for an identity card of a national of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on the basis that his father was an Azerbaijani national. His application was rejected as he was obliged to apply for this identity card in person.
33.  On an unspecified date the applicant lodged an action with the Absheron District Court, requesting the court to order the Absheron District Police Department to issue him with an Azerbaijani national's identity card. On 26 September 2008 the Absheron District Court allowed the applicant's request, noting that under the domestic law the applicant qualified as an Azerbaijani national by right of blood and instructed the Absheron District Police Department to issue him with an identity card.
34.  On the basis of this judgment, and pending its entry into force, on 2 October 2008 the applicant was issued with a temporary identity document valid until 2 November 2008. It appears that, following the appeals mentioned below, the term of validity of this temporary identity document was not extended and that the applicant was never issued with an identity card of an Azerbaijani national.
35.  The Absheron District Police Department lodged an appeal against the judgment of 26 September 2008, noting that the applicant was a national of Uzbekistan and that the only reason for his application for an identity card of an Azerbaijani national was to avoid extradition.
36.  On 28 November 2008 the Sumgait Court of Appeal quashed the Absheron District Court's judgment of 26 September 2008, finding that the applicant was a foreign national and that he could not be issued with an Azerbaijani national's identity card unless he was granted Azerbaijani citizenship by the President of the Republic, under the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
37.  On 19 January 2009 the applicant lodged a cassation appeal against the Sumgait Court of Appeal's judgment of 28 November 2008. On 11 March 2009 the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and upheld the judgment of 28 November 2008.
38.  On 1 August 2008 (with an addendum on 11 August 2008), the applicant appealed to the Sabail District Court against the detention order of 10 April 2008 and the extradition order of 18 June 2008. In his appeal he argued, inter alia, that (a) his detention had no basis under the domestic law and the detention order of 10 April 2008 had unlawfully authorised his detention for an indefinite period; (b) he faced an imminent risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment if extradited to Uzbekistan; (c) despite the authorities' unlawful refusals to issue him with citizenship documents, under the domestic law he was an Azerbaijani national by right of blood (as the son of an Azerbaijani national) and that therefore his extradition to a foreign country would be contrary to Azerbaijani law and the Minsk Convention.
39.  On 3 October 2008 the Sabail District Court quashed the Prosecutor General's extradition order of 18 June 2008, having had regard to the Absheron District Court's judgment of 26 September 2008 which confirmed the applicant's claim to Azerbaijani citizenship (although the Absheron District Court's judgment never entered into force, by this time it had not yet been quashed by the Sumgait Court of Appeal). The Sabail District Court noted that the Prosecutor General's Office could appeal against this decision within a three-day period and, in order to allow time for such an appeal, ordered the applicant's release seven days from the delivery of the decision (on 10 October 2008).
40.  The applicant was not released on 10 October 2008, seven days after the delivery of the decision of 3 October 2008.
41.  On 10 October 2008 the Prosecutor General's Office lodged an appeal against the Sabail District Court's decision of 3 October 2008. Accompanying the appeal was a request to restore the three-day appeal period owing to the fact that the Prosecutor General's Office did not receive the decision until 8 October 2008. The applicant protested, arguing that the law on criminal procedure did not allow for restoration of the missed three‑day period for appeals by the prosecution against court decisions concerning remand in custody. The applicant also claimed that the request for restoration of the three-day appeal period was unsubstantiated, because the representative of the Prosecutor General's Office had been present in the courtroom at the time the decision of 3 October 2008 was announced.
42.  On 13 October 2008 the request to restore the appeal period was granted and the appeal of the Prosecutor General's Office was accepted.
43.  On 23 October 2008 the Baku Court of Appeal quashed the Sabail District Court's decision of 3 October 2008. The Baku Court of Appeal held that the applicant was a national of Uzbekistan and that he had not been formally granted Azerbaijani citizenship. It noted that in upholding the applicant's citizenship claims the lower court had incorrectly relied on the Absheron District Court's judgment of 26 September 2008, which had not entered into force. Therefore, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the validity of the extradition order of 18 June 2008 and quashed the Sabail District Court's decision on the applicant's release. However, the Court of Appeal's decision was silent as to the existence of the risk of torture or ill-treatment in the event of the applicant's extradition and as to the lawfulness of his detention with a view to extradition.
44.  No appeals are available under domestic law against the Baku Court of Appeal's decision of 23 October 2008.
45.  It appears from the case file that on 28 November 2008 the applicant applied for refugee status to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Azerbaijan. However, it appears that he did not receive any reply to his request.